Tuesday, October 31, 2006

NBA 06-07 Preview: Playoff PicksWho Will Win West, East?

Running all day: My NBA season preview.More: MVP | Coach | Rookie | StorylinesHow will the conferences play out? I'd say there are five Finals contenders (Spurs, Suns, Mavs, Heat, Bulls), and the rest of it is up in the air for the right to not make the Conference Finals. For many teams, that's progress. Here's how I have it:

26 comments:

I would really like to hear your reasoning behind the Cavs getting the 6th seed. Especially since you have LeBron winning MVP.

The Cavs had 50 wins last year without anything from their new free agent signings. If they get anything from any of them they should improve by a few wins. Remember the Cavs were 18-10 before Hughes went down, prorate that over 82 games and the Cavs win 52.7.

Word out of Cleveland is that Jones and Marshall are in the best shape of their respective careers. Though he was a dud in the playoffs, Z is one of the better centers in the league.

The Cavs have had loads of players and coaches the past few years. This is the first offseason in which the team didn't make any dramatic changes. Continuity is what helped make teams like the Spurs and Pistons improve themselves.

One might look at the fact we don't have much of a point guard, but it still seemed to work out somehow last year.

LeBron has realized it is his turn to take the reins and lead this team and I would be surprised if the Cavs don't finish first in the central.

Obviously all your picks are educated, or not-so-educated, guesses. But the Nets as No. 2 in the East? Even if they win their division, which I doubt, since I believe the 76ers are bouncing back enough this year to take the division, in part because the Nets are about to be played out, Rivers can't coach his way out of a paper bag, and the Knicks, well, I ain't going to talk about the Knicks until they get rid of their IT dept.

But say I'm wrong, and the Nets do win their sorry division; there is just absolutely no way they finish 3rd. None of the Atl division teams will win 50, although, in the East, maybe the second place team will get the 8th seed.

Heat/Pistons (maybe Cavs, maybe bulls, maybe wizards, maybe even the magic, definitely noone from the atlantic) in the East finals again, to take on whoever makes it out of the West alive...

Lot of strange stuff in there, Dan. The strangest, though, is the Heat repeating? By that time, D-Wade's back will barely let him stand up, as he'll be playing his 245,362th game in 365 days. Considering that he is basically the sole reason they won it all last year, I wouldn't count on a repeat performance since he'll be so overworked. Not saying he won't be great, just more than completely exhausted to outgun everyone else that's gunning directly for him (and the Heat).

I'm not sure why everyone's underrating the Magic? Is it the youth? The reheated coach? The Darko? The Grant Hill's broken down body? Whatever it is, the Magic are feeling like the definite sleeper this season.

What the hell? Where's the Rockets? We are returning T-Mac and Yao (who will become the best center in the Association) and added Battier and Vassilis Spanoulis (who both played well in the World Basketball Championships) and Bozi Wells. If We play Skip, Bonzi, T-Mac, Battier and Yao and rotate in Snyder and V-Span (and if Head and HAyes develope like they have been) the Rockets could get to the Western Conference Finals.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.